Enhanced sensing resolution with microcavity mode oscillation generated by thermal-optic and photorefractive nonlinearity

Optical microcavity has proven its potential for unlabeled sensing. Here, we propose and demonstrate in a lithium niobate on insulator microcavity an enhanced sensing approach enabled by the nonlinear mode oscillation generated by the competition between thermal-optic and photorefractive effect, which breaks the intrinsic limitation in wavelength resolution set by the cavity's optical quality factor. It allows us to perform precise measurements of the mode shifting introduced by a nanoscale scatterer with a signal to noise ratio of 13.1 dB and paves a distinctive way to improve resonance shift resolution in widely studied microcavity sensors with a platform of great integration capability.